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Hi John,
On 2012-12-12, at 10:26 PM, John and Nhung wrote:
> Went through your article Chris, and you have concisely covered the =
reservations on salmonid cage culture as well as anyone I=92ve read. =20
Thanks, very kind of you to say so.
> By the way, most of my working life was/ has been spent on aquaculture =
research development in poorer societies, with a little initial work on =
mollusc culture in this corner of the world. I got into it because (a)I =
saw it as a way to reduce fishing pressure on wild stocks, and (b) it =
has potential to feed hungry people.
> =20
> So, a few sidebars from me:
> =20
> n The food chain bit in your article is why I was never interested in =
salmonid culture of any type. They are all carnivorous. Ya gotta catch =
fish to feed fish, and that doesn=92t make environmental sense to me. =
We should be eating those trash fish, not salmon. However, that isn=92t =
gonna change unless we get a lot poorer.=20
> n The corollary to this is that salmon are expensive to raise, so =
will never be an important food for poor people.
> n Personally, the presence of a couple of cages in an embayment =
doesn=92t bother me, but the apparent ease with which such an operation =
can expand many-fold and fast scares the hell out of me.
See below.
> n Re. genetic contamination: (a) I always thought the idea of raising =
Atlantic salmon on the west coast was a terrible one, because of the =
potential for escape, reproduction, and competition with native species. =
(b) I have heard the alarms raised about escapes of Atlantic salmon on =
this coast and the potential to contaminate existing stocks, and am more =
ambivalent here. Every species (and every population) evolves, through =
natural selection on a genetically diverse population. If the genes of =
escapees get introduced into a wild Atlantic Salmon stock, I kind of =
suspect natural selection will operate, as usual. I have listened to =
the arguments, but am still not very alarmed. I may be missing =
something, but personally find there are plenty of more convincing =
arguments to raise cautions against large-scale salmonid cage culture.
It's difficult to say unless one conducts some research to determine how =
biologically and behaviourally different farmed salmon are from wild =
populations. Perhaps not that much, in which case it may not be that =
significant an issue.=20
The bigger concern, as I point out in this article, is if trans-genic =
fish with genes from chinook salmon and ocean pout are released into the =
wild, and then these genes end up infecting natural populations. Do we =
really want such a thing to happen? It's fine to have fish that grow =
faster, are more disease resistant and more cold tolerant, but what if =
this genetic modification ends up producing some other undesirable =
effects? Once introduced into wild populations there may then be no way =
back.
> n To me, the scariest part of your article was the last bit, re. =
trade agreements. I don=92t know the details, but don=92t governments =
have a fundamental duty to protect our long-term interests?
One would think/hope so.=20
Corporations have a hard time restraining themselves. The consequence is =
to incessantly grow the business, make it larger, make it more =
profitable, reduce inefficiencies. This results in bigger farms, more =
fish, faster growing times. Good is never enough, it must be better. =
Shareholders are always deemed to want profit to increase. Such unending =
growth is the ideology of cancer. We need governments with intestinal =
fortitude that will strictly regulate the conduct of corporations. =
Otherwise, we are on a crash course with biological and ecological =
reality.
Cheers!
Chris
Christopher Majka - writer, Rabble.ca
Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
Email: c.majka@ns.sympatico.ca
http://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/christophermajka
The significant problems of our time cannot be solved by the same level =
of thinking that created them. - Albert Einstein
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<html><head><base href=3D"x-msg://559/"></head><body style=3D"word-wrap: =
break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: =
after-white-space; ">Hi John,<div><br><div><div>On 2012-12-12, at 10:26 =
PM, John and Nhung wrote:</div><br =
class=3D"Apple-interchange-newline"><blockquote type=3D"cite"><span =
class=3D"Apple-style-span" style=3D"color: rgb(31, 73, 125); =
font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; ">Went through your =
article Chris, and you have concisely covered the reservations on =
salmonid cage culture as well as anyone I=92ve read. =
</span></blockquote><div><br></div><div>Thanks, very kind of you =
to say so.</div><br><blockquote type=3D"cite"><span =
class=3D"Apple-style-span" style=3D"border-collapse: separate; =
font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; =
letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: =
-webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: =
normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: =
0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; =
-webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: =
auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><div lang=3D"EN-CA" link=3D"blue" =
vlink=3D"purple"><div class=3D"WordSection1" style=3D"page: =
WordSection1; "><div style=3D"margin-top: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; =
margin-left: 0cm; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: =
'Times New Roman', serif; "><span style=3D"font-size: 11pt; font-family: =
Calibri, sans-serif; color: rgb(31, 73, 125); ">By the way, most of my =
working life was/ has been spent on aquaculture research development in =
poorer societies, with a little initial work on mollusc culture in this =
corner of the world. I got into it because (a)I saw it as a way to =
reduce fishing pressure on wild stocks, and (b) it has potential to feed =
hungry people.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style=3D"margin-top: 0cm; =
margin-right: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: =
12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "><span style=3D"font-size: =
11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: rgb(31, 73, 125); =
"><o:p> </o:p></span></div><div style=3D"margin-top: 0cm; =
margin-right: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: =
12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', ser